Evolution of Point-of-Sale systems

Point-of-sale or as called otherwise Point-of-purchase is a contemporary transaction system which is essential for the steady flow of mercantile retail transactions. A major part of retail business worldwide have adopted such technologies in order to refine the quality of their services and at the same time save time and thus money.

This technology was considered a huge breakthrough as it diminished the need for cashiers in the retail industry to calculate individually the price tags for any given product, instead scanning the codes and automatically registering the total sum. On the other hand it was also extremely useful in the lodging industry, which also has numerous client transactions that need care and many times are complicated. In a nutshell Point-of-sale systems enable the combination of different interactions and transactions like: sales, purchases, receipts, bookkeeping, digital interactions and credit among others.

Point-of-sale technology has naturally developed along with the evolution of modern computer technology, with the first examples of it being made by the IBM in the 1970’s. Combined with the credit card system and the first graphical point of sale system which was introduced in the market in 1986, what we know as modern retail interactions was born.

The advent of cloud computing and wireless communications was the last great enhancement to this technology, something that enabled to any enterprise to make full use of portable Point-of-sale systems. Without these developments, it is many times inconceivable to imagine daily interactions like visiting a supermarket or buying a meal.

The potential and versatility of this technology is immense, as it enables employees to do with little training many complicated tasks that would otherwise need a deeper knowledge of the subject. Its gradual evolution and refinement during the last 4 decades led to virtually all major companies making use of these systems in one or more of their departments and a huge amount of smaller enterprises, especially in the developed countries, make extensive use of this technology.